I have been hearing some "clunking" when going from R to P, and P to R. Even hear it from time to time when I come to a stop light, and then start back up again. I had asked the Stealership to check the U-joints on the driveshaft when it was in for inspection last week, and they said everything was fine.

Yesterday, I climbed under there and started checking for play in the drive lines (I don't want to believe that it is a tranny issue). Rear shaft was tight and no issues. Front shaft....had about 1/4" of play in it. I can hear the clunking in the front diff. I am assuming that there should be NO PLAY but since this is my first go round with a JEEP product, I wanted to ask.....is this normal? lol

What worries me, is when I went to change the diff fluids over to synthetic, I couldn't get the front diff cover off because the previous owner went crazy with a grey liquid gasket that is tight enough to keep out a radiation attack. I had to suck the fluid out of the fill plug.

I didn't see any metal in the fluid I removed, but who is to say that the metal pieces (if there are any in there) were too big to fit into my little suction hose. Now I really wish I had been able to get that cover off and look at things.

What say you all?

 

That's pretty normal, this is after all an offroad product...Not a caddy that is supposed to be whisper quite on the inside, just sayin.

 

clunk when changing gears is usually a U-joint. old covers are usually a pain to get off...but a dead blow hammer helps. take out all the bolts except the top one...and have a catch pain underneath, then start beating the crap outta the cover. Try to hit at an angle on the part of the cover that sticks out (by the drail plug)

 

Is this the "It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand" thing? Cause, on all my Toyotas, everything was snug and no loud clunks when shifting.

 

just check them for play, if they look good...dont worry about them. You can check for excessive play in the pinion by jacking up the front end, and rotating it by hand back and forth.

 

I had the front jacked up when I was under there. The shaft had about 1/4" of play and I could hear metal on metal in the front diff.

 

If I were you I'd get that diff cover off, if even just to check stuff out in there.

Heck, worst case scenario you jack up the factory cover trying to beat it to death to get it off, and you have to buy a heavy duty cover... bummer... *sarcasm*.

 

Toyota's are not perfect either. 1/4" play in front ds is not your problem. The clunk is most likely just the trans coming off the parking gear.

 

Yeah, just the parking pawl moving in and out of the shaft...

 

I agree with your clunk being normal wear in the tranny or a bad U-joint. I highly suggest you do get that front diff. cover off and have a look at things. If the diff. is bad that cover will be coming off one way or another, anyway.

 

The biggest "clunk" come when going from R to D. Pretty consistant on that. P to D sometimes is smooth as butter, but R to D is almost always noise.

 

I get that too, it's just normal play in the entire drive line, when you have that many gears meshing and chains and shafts and everything, it just has a little play in it.

I had an old C3500 chevy truck, it was a beast, rebuilt diff, new U joints, rebuilt tranny, and it still clunked going from R to D and from slowing to accelerating.

It just happens.

To reiterate though, get that diff cover off and check things out in there, make sure everything is OK.